Description: Goldberg contends that only against the background of powerlessness and inner destruction can Jewish responses and resistance during the Holocaust gain their proper meaning.
Review Quotes:
"This is a book that deserves to be read well beyond Holocaust studies. Goldberg's theoretical insights into "life stories" and his readings of law, language and what he calls the "epistemological grey zone" . . . provide a stunning antidote to our unthinking treatment of survivors as celebrities (as opposed to just people who have suffered terrible things) and to the ubiquity of commemorative platitudes."--Times Higher Education supplement
"Every decade or so, an exceptional volume is born. Provocative and inspiring, historian Goldberg's volume is one such work in the field of Holocaust studies. . . . Highly recommended."--Choice
"Amos Goldberg's Trauma in First Person: Diary Writing During the Holocaust is an important and thought-provoking book not only on reading Holocaust diaries, but also on what that reading can tell us about the extent of the destruction committed against Jews during the Holocaust."--Reading Religion
"Though there is much lip service paid to the importance of interdisciplinarity among today's academics, with Trauma in First Person, Amos Goldberg has produced such a rare work."--Alexandra Garbarini, author of Numbered Days: Diaries and the Holocaust
"Amos Goldberg's work offers an innovative approach to the subject matter of Holocaust diaries and challenges well-established views in the whole field of Holocaust studies. This is a comprehensive discussion of the phenomenon of Jewish diary writing during the Holocaust and after."--Guy Miron, author of The Waning of Emancipation: Jewish History, Memory, and the Rise of Fascism in Germany
"This is an important contribution to trauma studies and a powerful critique of those who use the "crisis" paradigm to study the Holocaust."--Dovile Budryte - Georgia Gwinnett College, Holocaust and Genocide Studies